Well first I use groups of 3 students, easier to evaluate. I have the group do the task (Lab)requirements, then I have each person in that group do the processing questions after the lab is completed (in their own words), this gives me the input I need to see what the students understands or what they are not understanding.
As I mentioned in another post giving groups time in class to work on their projects will allow you the chance to observe individuals within the group. Have the student self-grade and also the group grade their team members to see if the two match up. Presentations would also serve as a good tool over written work to see how much a student was involved.
For the first time, because of the discussion on this site, I went to the group format in English class. Yes, the students laughed and joked at first, but they did complete the assigned project and most of them, as I discoverd when I was monitoring them stayed on task although it was difficult for some of the students to handle the change to a less structured learning setting. Each group member completed their assigned task which was to write a two hour essay on a situation that I created when visitors from outer space landed and were attacking major cities. My welders went to work mending bridges. My energy conservation people explored how to save our energy. Our hearing and air conditioning students explored how to keep the heating and cooling at work. Finally, my medical people were waiting to attend to emergencies as they happened. Each student described and narraged what they found on the job and what action they took to fix it. These will be the kind of reports they will be doing in the future.
Jennifer,
I also think this is a good idea as it essentially forces each member of the group to play a role. Also, sometimes the stronger personalities take over & actually don't allow the quieter members to do anything because they need to learn to trust.
Dr. Ryan Meers
This is an area that I've found to be hard to balance. The strong personalities tend to take over and do the majority of the work. This leaves the more passive types in the background and not as involved as I would like them to be. However, I really like the idea of assigning a task to each member of the group. It sounds like a great way to balance out the work and have everyone involved.
Monitoring group work is a means of determining individual particiaption. also, peer review is a good gauge of engagement. It is amazing to note that my grading is never too far off from the peer reviews given by team members.
Beth,
I totally agree with you. You must get a well rounded evaluation from those that are also in that group.
Good point & I've also found to be careful in balancing quanitative & qualitative peer feedback. When I give a score sheet for peer feedback, I try to show them how severe they might be in their scoring, when they don't mean to be that harsh.
Ryan
I think best evaluation would be three part: 1) Self evaluation of contributions to group 2) Peer evaluation of others contribution and 3) Instructors overall evaluation of the group/individual contribution. Would have to be careful not tie the self and peer evaluations too closely so becomes a situation where students make it an “I did everything and they didn’tâ€, which sometimes happens.
Teacher can Evaluate their
group participation
Individual Contribution
The members can evaluate
themselves
others in the group
I too use a group grading sheet for group project. Part of the grade is based on the peer feedback they give one another. I have found this to be an effective way to gather input & for most to feel the grading is then fair.
Ryan
When I have group work I evaluate individuals in a couple of different ways. First, I have the group members evaluate each other. I am looking to see if there is any concensus to the groups opinion. I have also had group projects where the goup breaks down particular assignments to individuals. I always try to have several different components to group work.
